


Trick or Treat

by PalmettoFoxDen



Category: Green Creek Series - T.J. Klune
Genre: Gen, Halloween, Joe and Ox have a son, M/M, Pack Dynamics, Trick or Treating
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-23
Updated: 2018-10-23
Packaged: 2019-08-06 07:32:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,101
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16383884
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PalmettoFoxDen/pseuds/PalmettoFoxDen
Summary: It's Joe and Ox's first Halloween taking their son trick or treating and the pack isn't about to miss out on it.





	Trick or Treat

It was the first Halloween since Joe and Ox had adopted their son and the pack was a little over-excited about having a kid around for Halloween for the first time in years. For most of them, the last kid they'd had around had been Ox before they had become part of the pack or had been Joe before he had grown up, but now Ox and Joe were the first of the next generation to have a child to dote on and the pack was taking full advantage of it.

Nicholas didn't seem to find anything off about it. He had grown used to how much time the pack spent together, although he had only been with Ox, Joe, and the rest of the pack for about ten months since he had shown up on Ox and Joe’s from doorstep violet-eyed and orphaned, following the pull of Ox's alpha magic.

Nicholas hadn’t been able to turn yet, but he had still been feral at the time. He was stuck in human form, too young to turn at eight years old, but his wolf teeth had descended and blocked his mouth so what few words he got out came out thick and unclear.

When he had first shown up, the only word he would say was _alpha_ as he stared up at Ox. It took a while before more words followed and, even then, his nature had been animalistic and skittish. He had growled and huffed more than he had spoken. Nicholas had been fending for himself on the street since the rest of his pack had been taken out by hunters. It had been months before he had admitted more than just that his pack was dead to anyone.

He opened up to Joe first, admitting that hunters had taken out his pack when he was five and he had only survived because his mother had hidden him. Nicholas had been alone ever since. Joe had assured him that he was safe there with them and Ox had told Nicholas what happened to hunters who came around Green Creek and tried to mess with the Bennett pack.

Ever since he had come to Green Creek,, Nicholas had been living at the old house with Joe and Ox. At first, it had been because he hadn't wanted to stray too far from Ox. But it wasn't long before they had taken him in and after years of living without anyone to look after him, Nicholas had soon become their son.

The so-called zen alpha tricks they had learned from Thomas that they had been teaching Nicholas were helping and he was able to remain calm more often and was speaking much more than when he had first arrived. Elizabeth had even started homeschooling him like she had homeschooled her own sons since he was too young to attend school with the humans, even if Green Creek did know the truth about werewolves and what the Bennetts were.

Nicholas was excited about Halloween. He hadn't experienced a real Halloween since he had been five years old and he hadn't been able to go anywhere but the Bennett land, the pack houses, and Gordo's garage since he had moved in with Joe and Ox. He was getting to go around town for the first time with the added bonus of collecting candy. He had been talking about it ever since Rico had suggested that he should dress up as a wolf for Halloween and Nicholas had asked his fathers if he really got to go trick or treating.

When they had taken him shopping for a costume, Nicholas hadn't chosen a wolf costume but his choice had been just as amusing to the shop boys. If anything, they seemed to find it even funnier.

* * *

When Nicholas had his costume on and his trick or treat bag ready, Joe and Ox took him over to the Bennett house so he could show his costume off to the pack. He barely made it through the door before the shop boys began whooping with laughter.

"This is perfect," Tanner insisted.

"Gordo!" Rico called out. "You've got to see this! You're going to love it!"

Gordo called back from the kitchen, “Somehow I doubt that.”

He emerged from the kitchen a moment later with a beer in his hand at Mark at his side.

"Oh you have got to be kidding me," he said when he saw Nicholas standing there in a full-length robe and pointy hat.

"Look!" Chris laughed. "He's inspired by you."

"This is offensive, Ox," Gordo insisted. "I thought you would have better taste than letting him wear something like this.”

"Calm down," Carter said with a smug look. "It's funny."

"This is not what witches look like," Gordo insisted.

"I'm sure Mark is thrilled you don't walk around in that outfit,” Jessie said with a laugh.

Gordo's scowl only deepened.

"Witches don't use wands," he insisted as he eyed the crafted stick in Nicholas’s hand.

"I'm not a witch," Nicholas insisted. "I'm a wizard. Like Harry Potter."

Gordo glared at Ox and insisted, "You have really got to stop reading him those books. It was bad enough when you thought my magic was like those books. You don't need to teach him too."

Gordo may have still been complaining, but his scowl softened a little. His grumpy act really had gotten a lot less convincing since he had gotten back together with Mark. It wasn't in Gordo's blood to hold a grudge against a kid so it didn’t take long before he gave in.

"It's an alright costume, kid," he grumbled. "For a wizard. Which I'm not."

"I know," Nicholas insisted.

"You already know more than your dad did when he was twice your age then," Gordo insisted.

Ox knew it was meant as a dig at him but he didn't mind. He knew that Gordo didn't mean it in any kind of mean way. Gordo didn't think he was stupid for not having known. Gordo didn't think he was stupid at all. He was one of the reasons that Ox didn't believe all those words his daddy had said about him anymore. He knew that Gordo just had to put on a show of being grumpy and needed someone to scowl at to keep up appearances like they didn't all know how much Gordo cared about all of them.

"Can we go now?" Nicholas asked. He was shifting from foot to foot. Clearly, he was antsy to go get some chocolate.

"Alright, let's go," Joe said.

Ox was pretty sure that Joe had just been talking to him and Nicholas but, instead, the entire pack got up and followed them to the door. The pack hadn't been so much invited to come along to take Nicholas trick or treating as they had invited themselves along.

* * *

The old and new house were the only houses on the street, so they got into vehicles to move into town so that Nicholas wouldn't waste his time and energy walking around where there was no candy. It took three vehicles to transport them all to Gordo's place, where they stopped in the parking lot to leave their cars until they were done trick or treating.

When they reached the first house, the rest of the pack waited at the end of the driveway while Ox and Joe went up to the door with Nicholas. The lights were on, but when Nicholas called out "Trick or treat!" no one came to the door to answer.

Ox could hear heartbeats inside. They sounded rapid like whoever was inside was convinced that they were in danger. Ox knew that not all of the town understood who and what they were. Even though they had saved many of the citizens of Green Creek, many still feared the unknown. Townspeople didn't outright try to drive the pack out of town but many seemed uncomfortable around them. Sure, some people didn't treat them any different and some looked at them in awe. But there were others who looked at them with fear and then quickly looked away before they could be caught holding eye contact with something inhuman. The fact that the entire pack, including the Timberwolf who was still stuck in his gigantic wolf form, was waiting at the end of the driveway watching the house probably did not help the situation.

It was discouraging for Ox to look down at the face of his son who had been so excited to get to go trick or treating and who was stuck waiting outside the first house because the lights were on and the yard was decorated but the occupants were afraid of them and hiding in the hopes that they would just leave.

"Why aren't they opening the door?" Nicholas asked.

Joe growled under his breath.

"They're afraid," Ox said.

Joe huffed under his breath. Ox knew that Joe was irritated and he was pretty frustrated himself. Ox understood the fear that the people inside the house felt, but it was hard to care when he could feel the blue replacing the green that had been coming off of Nicholas before. Last time humans had shown up knowing what Nicholas was and afraid of werewolves, Nicholas had lost his entire pack. This was a different situation, but Ox knew that it must be making him uneasy.

Joe walked up to the door and snapped his jaws and growled out in warning. Clearly, he was thinking along the same lines.

Ox set one hand on his mate's shoulder and ruffled their son's hair with the other as he insisted, "Let's just go."

Joe turned away from the door to look at him but he looked torn.

Ox didn't want Nicholas's first house to be a complete failure either, but he also knew that growling at the door would only scare whoever was inside even more and would allow this to ruin their night.

"There are plenty of other houses," Ox insisted.

Joe and Nicholas gave in and walked back down the driveway with slumped shoulders.

"We should egg their house," Carter insisted.

"Definitely," Kelly insisted. "We're never going to eat all those eggs in the fridge anyway."

"I bought those for baking and neither of you is egging anything or so help me," Elizabeth warned.

"Jokes on them, we don't need their candy," Rico insisted to try to cheer Nicholas up. "I bet they give out unwrapped old candy anyway. We've got _way_ better candy anyway so they're just leaving more room for king sized chocolate bars. If wolves can even have chocolate. Can you guys have chocolate? Or are you just taking your kid out to trick or treat for a bunch of poison and a little bit of candy? Because if this is a poison gathering trip then I have some serious concerns."

"We can eat chocolate," Mark insisted. "We're not dogs."

"Are you sure you're not?" Jessie questioned in an amused tone.

"I mean, you're not exactly _not_ dogs," Tanner insisted.

"We're not dogs," Kelly insisted. "Carter once ate his entire bag of Halloween chocolate in one sitting and he didn't even get sick."

"I've got a stomach of steel," Carter bragged as he patted his middle. "It was like five pounds of chocolate. At least.“

"I don't think that's something to be proud of," Robbie commented.

"It is totally something to be proud of," Carter insisted. "Right, Kelly?"

"It was definitely... something," Kelly agreed.

"Kelly only ate half his and he was sicker than I was," Carter boasted. "He wouldn't even eat the other half after."

"And let me guess, you did," Gordo predicted.

"Half of it," Carter said. "Joe got the other half."

When they got to the next house, the pack waited at the end of the driveway again as Ox and Joe walked their son to the door.

The lights were on at this house too. Ox could hear two heartbeats inside. He stood a step behind Joe and Nicholas and glanced from their tense shoulders to the door. He wasn't sure what he would do if this house didn't answer either. Would they give up and go back home and just eat candy there? But Nicholas had been so excited to go trick or treating and Ox didn't want to take that away from him.

"Trick or treat!" Nicholas called out.

Seconds seemed to drag out into hours as Ox listened to the heartbeats inside. Footsteps sounded and moved toward the door instead of away. Ox went green with relief.

The door opened and a woman in her fifties answered the door. Ox thought that she might have been one of the humans who had been locked in the Lighthouse but he wasn't certain. Her heart was beating faster than an ordinary human's, but she did not flinch.

She smiled down at Nicholas and Ox thought that maybe not all of the humans were so immobilized by fear of them after all.

"Oh, what a nice costume," the woman said. Her smile wavered a little but she took a step out of her house to drop candy into Nicholas's open bag anyway.

"Thank you," Nicholas said as he peered down in his bag to see what kind of candy he had gotten.

The woman gave Ox and Joe a small nod then closed herself back up inside her house again.

Nicholas went bounding down the driveway with his bag, much greener now that the town wasn't completely rejecting him. Ox trailed behind him and Joe met his pace as he linked his fingers through Ox’s, then brought their hands up to his face so he could kiss the back of Ox’s hand.

"What did you get?" Chris asked when Nicholas reached the end of the driveway.

Carter poked his head over the opening of the bag and said, "A Kit-Kat. Not even the big kind. What a rip-off."

Elizabeth elbowed her son lightly, clearly not impressed that he was judging Nicholas's first candy when Nicholas was clearly pleased.

As they walked to the next house, Rico asked, "What if I gave Timberwolf that Kit-Kat while he's a wolf? Would that make him sick?"

Joe insisted, "We don't eat chocolate as wolves. We want meat."

"Okay, but if he did,” Rico said. "Like if I covered a nice juicy steak with chocolate sauce and Timber ate it. Would he ralph all over Carter's room?"

"You're not feeding him chocolate," Carter warned. Ox couldn't tell if he was more concerned about Timber's well-being or the well-being of his carpet.

"I know," Rico said. "But _if I did_ -"

Ox left them to argue semantics that he knew never would get sorted out as he followed Nicholas to the next door, hand in hand with his mate.

* * *

The night was filled with mixed success. Some houses had their lights out so they skipped them. Some houses answered the door without any hesitation. Others answered the door more nervously. Others still peeked out the window and didn't answer the door at all. Enough doors opened to keep Nicholas's mood mostly up, but Ox could still sense tinges of blue coming off of their son.

At one of the houses, a man opened the door and then froze with a bowl of chocolate in his hand.

“Oh, it’s you freaks.”

Joe took a step forward and growled under his breath, clearly unimpressed. Ox could hear more growls coming from his pack at the end of the driveway.

Nicholas didn’t bother holding his bag open. He stared down at the welcome mat at his feet.

“I don’t have anything for the likes of you,” the man insisted. “Leave me alone.”

Joe snarled out, “He said trick or treat.”

The man took a step back in his house and moved to slam the door shut, but Ox lunged forward to jam his foot in the doorway before it could fully close.

“I’ll get my gun,” the man threatened.

“You won’t make it to your gun,” Ox warned. “Just give him the chocolate and we’ll be on our way.”

The man hesitated and then grabbed a chocolate bar from the bowl and dropped it into Nicholas’s bag when he opened it.

“There,” the man said. “Now leave me alone.”

Ox shook his head. The man had been far too rude to his son and Ox wasn’t just going to leave it at that when he could feel the blue coming off of Joe and Nicholas both.

“Not one bar,” Ox said. “Give him all the chocolate.”

“You have got to be kidding me,” the man insisted.

Ox stared him down and after a moment, the man dumped the bowl into Nicholas’s bag.

Ox removed his foot from the door and the man retreated into his house and slammed the door immediately, while Nicholas muttered out a half-hearted, “Thank you.”

Nicholas still seemed a bit uncertain, but his mood lifted a little when they reached the end of the driveway and Rico insisted, “Whoa, look at all the Caramilks you got. Jackpot. I bet that bags too heavy for Chris to even lift now.”

“I could totally lift it,” Chris defended himself.

“Uh uh,” Tanner said. “Jessie could, but you couldn’t. Everyone knows you’re the weaker sibling.”

“That doesn’t mean I can’t carry it,” Chris argued.

“That looks like a lot of chocolate for one night,” Elizabeth pointed out. “It’s getting late anyway. Most houses will have their lights out soon. Why don’t we go back to the house and watch some movies while you get started on that candy?”

“Okay,” Nicholas agreed.

Ox was relieved that he didn’t try to argue and stay out, although he wondered if Nicholas only agreed so easily because of the way the last house had gone.

“You carry this,” Nicholas insisted as he shoved his nearly overfilling candy bag at Ox.

Ox took the bag and pulled the top shut so he could hold it with one fist while his other hand still held Joe’s. Without the weight of his candy weighing him down any longer, Nicholas grabbed onto Joe’s other hand as they headed back toward Gordo’s to get the cars.

“Hey, Nicholas,” Carter said as they walked. “Can I get some of that candy?”

“You don’t need his candy. You can buy your own,” Gordo pointed out.

“You can have the bad kinds,” Nicholas told Carter anyway.

“This is why you’re my favourite nephew,” Carter insisted.

“He’s your only nephew,” Ox pointed out.

“I’m trying to have a moment,” Carter argued. “Stop ruining it.”


End file.
